Tag: election

These days, the word “election” is at the center of our lives. We almost go to bed with the election and get up with the election in our minds… While those of us living in Turkey are interested in every aspect of the election, the results of the election surveys are also on the agenda of the media.

In last week’s article, we talked about the power of Neuroscience in election studies. In today’s article, we will talk about the methods of neuromarketing that provide high reliability in terms of results in election research.

What is Election Research for?

Election research is conducted to understand the voters because it is the voter on the street who makes the final decision. The aim of the studies in this field is to reduce risk in the decision-making process. Reducing risk is only possible by increasing the reliability of the results.

Election surveys;

Ø By asking direct questions, the reasons underlying voter behavior cannot be explained sufficiently and voters cannot be aware of their own behavior,

Ø It is a field where situations in which people cannot express themselves well or refrain from explaining themselves are investigated.

In Turkey, election studies conducted with traditional research methods partially enlighten the public and the parties, guide them and enable them to take the necessary positions. However, in a world where people cannot think what they feel, cannot express what they think properly due to various reasons such as fears, hesitations and embarrassments, and do not do what they have expressed, it is necessary to enrich and support election studies conducted with traditional methods with neuromarketing in order to crown them with reliable results. Because neuromarketing is one of the most advanced technologies we have today to explore new worlds and is the power of science in the field of research. The main advantage of the neuromarketing method is that it offers the opportunity to look at the consumer world from a wide perspective by shedding light on the parts that remain in the dark in consumer attitudes and behaviors. Thus, it is possible to see what is invisible in traditional research and to direct election strategies with a scientific, comprehensive and result-oriented perspective.

Let’s take a look at which Neuromarketing Technologies would have been used and in which ways if neuroscience had been used along with traditional research methods in the May 14th elections.

Ø In traditional surveys, the explicitly expressed voluntary evaluations of the participants would be compared with the measurements in the cognitive processes of neuroscience and it would be examined whether there are differences between the voters’ ‘verbal expressions’ and their ‘brain waves and emotions’. Thus, it would be determined whether voters directly express what they think or whether they make different discourses due to the influence of environmental factors, i.e. family, close environment and groups.

Ø The main methods to be used were as follows:

– Electroencephalogram (EEG): In this method, changes in brain electrical activity that occur during cognitive processes would be measured with electrodes placed on the scalp.

– Eye Tracking System: With the eye movement tracking technique, it would be determined where the person was looking and what they were interested in in the stimuli to be tested. Eye movements and the state of the pupil during these movements would be recorded along with the heartbeat.

– Emotional State Analysis: People’s behavior is brain-based. In this method, people’s emotions in response to presented stimuli (visual or verbal) would be measured by brain responses from the central and autonomic nervous systems.

– Electrodermal Activity (EDA): The body’s responses to instantaneous stimuli would be recorded and skin stimulation and heartbeat would be detected. The most important parameter that emerged here would be the feeling of ‘excitement’.

– In-depth Qualitative Interviews and Group Discussions: To complement and enrich the neuromarketing findings, they would be conducted at the beginning or at the end of the study.

CONCLUSIONS: From past to present, various disciplines have tried to solve the mystery of human behavior using experimental and traditional methods. However, it has been observed that these methods are limited in providing findings to understand the functioning of the brain, which is the source of human behavior. In order to eliminate this limitation, the research discipline that examines the usual and unusual biological responses of the human brain was named “Neuroscience”.

In this way, the missing piece of the puzzle was completed with “Neuroscience research” and the results obtained enabled strategic decisions to be made clearly and precisely on a scientific basis!

If results with a much higher reliability rate than traditional research methods are to be obtained in election research, it is necessary to include Neuromarketing Methods in which the findings obtained are not open to estimation nor interpretation but are presented clearly within scientific limits and with statistical significance.

Reference Simin Demiriş

‘Neuroscience’ is one of the most advanced technologies we have today to explore new possibilities in a world where people cannot think what they feel, express what they think and do what they say.

Neuromarketing studies under the umbrella of neuroscience can be seen in all areas where people’s decision-making processes play a role and this creates life, from brands to political parties. Neuromarketing is used in political election research to learn about voters’ subconscious reactions and emotions towards different candidates, campaign messages and political issues. With increasing experience, developing technology and new techniques, it is certain that neuromarketing studies will be much more effective in the coming years and will reveal unexplored truths.

NeuroPolitics, as it is known in the literature, is used in the field of political communication. Rhetorical and profile analyses conducted on voters offer a level of detail that cannot be obtained with traditional research methods in terms of revealing emotional interactions without asking them. From this point of view, it is a fact that neuropolitical research will develop more in the coming years all over the world, as long as it is provided by experts.

A review of election campaign archives reveals that presidents and prime ministers in various countries have used neuroscience in their campaigns to scan people’s brains, bodies and faces in order to increase their emotional resonance with voters. It is possible to measure voters’ brain waves with Electroencephalogram (EEG), skin stimulation and heartbeat with Electrodermal Activity (EDA), facial expressions and emotions with Emotional State Analysis.

We can give the following examples of such studies;

– In Mexico, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), of which Enrique Peña Nieto is the president, used these technologies of neuromarketing in its 2012 presidential election campaign. According to a consultant, Nieto’s party has been using facial coding for some time to select the best candidates. Some officials have openly stated that they use these techniques not only in election campaigns but also when they are in government.

– Francisco Olvera Ruiz, governor of Hidalgo, Mexico, and a member of the ruling party says “In our government programs, we use various neuropolitical technologies to evaluate the effectiveness of our communications and messages,” and adds “Neuroscience is especially valuable for us to get a more accurate and objective view of what people think, perceive and feel.”

– In Mexico, Emotion Research Lab used cameras on digital billboards to analyze audience reactions so that the campaign could quickly change the message. Inside the billboard was a camera with a special algorithm that could read emotions such as happiness, surprise, anger, hate, fear and sadness. With feedback from the camera, the campaign’s message – images, sounds or words – could be changed to messages that voters liked better.

– In Colombia, President Juan Manuel Santos’s re-election team in 2014 won the election by working with a neuromarketing firm that also worked with the Mexican government.

– Neuromarketing consultants say they have conducted such research in Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Russia, Spain and, to a lesser extent, the United States.

– Poland’s Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz and her party Civic Platform worked with a neuromarketing company ahead of the parliamentary elections.

– In Turkey, former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu worked with a neuromarketing firm during the June 2015 elections. Various techniques such as brain wave monitoring, eye, face, skin and heartbeat monitoring were applied to volunteers in laboratories in Istanbul.

The findings of the neuroscience studies can be listed as follows:

Ø In elections, the politician’s continuously making a name for himself/herself and being visible in various media increases his/her recognition by voters and increases his/her voting capacity over time.

Ø Being different and exciting always increases voter awareness.

Ø Appealing to emotions is the best way to influence consumers. Most people make decisions emotionally rather than cognitively.

Ø Politicians who talk about how bad the opponent is without developing a unique communication style are always doomed to remain in the second plan.

Ø It is necessary to use a clear and simple language in political communication. Mixed messages do not attract people’s attention and are forgotten over time. Especially messages that try to mobilize people and have clear goals are the first key to a correct communication. An effective message is one that is perceived within 5-7 seconds.

CONCLUSION: When traditional research methods are applied, voters may be reluctant, unconscious or unable to express how they really feel about a candidate. However, when neuromarketing technologies are used, precise, clear and subconscious data increases the quality of election studies and ensures that they are reliable within the limits of science.